Hi.  I've dabbled with macro occasionally.  It can be really rewarding if done correctly.  It depends on your camera as to whether you can do it or not.  Most modern digital cameras have a decent macro setting.....you just have to find it.
Here's one I did last winter.....I went for a stroll and the ice on the mushroom just caught my eye.

Hi Kelly,

Thanks for that, I should have said super macro, I do have a number of camera’s as photos are my hobby, my canon has a macro lens but it isn’t good enough to take super macro shots of lady birds and so on.

Thanks again for taking the trouble to comment and post your photo.

Eva.

No probs....have fun.

my canon has a macro lens but it isn’t good enough to take super macro shots of lady birds and so on.

I'm not sure what you mean by supermacro.  I've attached a pic of a macro I took of a flower and insect.  Is this what you were thinking or were you thinking closer?

Oh wow, yes this is the kind of photos I wish to take, to explain, my hubby bought me a digital slr although an awesome camera. I tried taking a photo of a lady bird and was disappointed, but with my little Olympus compact camera that cost a fraction of the price of the SLR this has a super macro mode and in this mode I can almost touch the subject. Hence a greater magnification but with my compact I have no control and have to except the auto settings, shutter/aperture.

I want to be able to use my SLR without going overboard on cost, my hubby already moans at what I spend and I often have to resort to hiding stuff in drawers and then say, oh this old blouse, I bought this last year. ;D

Bored yet?

So how and what did you use for that fabulous photo?

Eva

I use to do a lot, here is one that I did

It is the nape of the Queens Neck on a twenty pence coin showing the initials of the designer

So how and what did you use for that fabulous photo?

I looked at buying a macro lens for my camera but it was over £300 which I couldn't really justify just to have a play with.  I saw an article in a magazine about "filter" lenses to do close up which sounded ok.  I found some in the local camera shop.  They just screw onto the front of your lens.  The kit I got came with 3 lenses of different magnification.  You can combine them to get more choices of magnification.  The ones I got were the princely amount of about £30.  If you do a search on Amazon for "close up filter" you will get a selection.   I would check the reviews before getting one.  They aren't the same quality as a £300 lens but if you're like me and you just want to play they are ok.

  That picture was taken in the garden.  It was on a bright sunny afternoon so there was plenty of light and I could use a reasonably fast shutter speed.  I eventually found this fly which was busy and wasn't too bothered by the lunatic creeping about with a camera.

The flower is a pink so you can see the depth of field is about 10mm. You will probably need a tripod or something to support the camera.  You only have to wobble by a few millimetres and your subject can be out of focus. 

Finding the right subject can be hard.  Spiders are easy.  Lots of interesting creatures you want to photograph never sit still long enough to take the photo.  You get your camera into position, get it in focus, blink and the viewfinder is empty.  >:(  You could spend all day chasing an insect about for that perfect picture.  😀 I know some photographers use dead creatures to get the picture they want. 

I was quoted £700 for a super-macro lens for my camera; I already have tripod and stuff and would never even consider killing anything just to photograph it, how awful.

Your suggestion looks to be the most economical, extension rings are also expensive at £100 each and I would need three of these.

That’s a great photo, I would be very proud, if I had taken it myself.

Thanks Eva.  I'm sure once you start chasing insects about with a macro lens you will be shooting similar. 

If you every want to discus photography, feel free to drop me a PM or email.

I've used filters too, very cheap ones, but got some pretty decent results...

Wow Neil,  great photos  :), what software do you use for editing, I use adobe photoshop.

Eva

The biggest problem is getting the whole of the subject in focus. I do use photoshop but for cheap and cheerful photo editing I use photoscape which is free and photo razor to reduce the file size for emailing. It does this without messing about with the original. Google will get you to the relevant sites.

Some lovely pictures here

Davie  😎

The trick to getting all the subject in focus is to use the correct aperture something around f22 should be fine on a dslr on a bridge type camera ad the sensor is smaller you can get away with f8. We find photographybbvery useful for advice etc.

I thought as I had started this thread I would add one of my macro flower photos. When starting this thread I titled it macro but I meant super macro where one can take photos of butterflies, lady bird’s spiders and see them as you would not normally be able to.

You have certainly posted some great insect photos and given me information, thanks. 🙂

What a great site this is.